A man in the US was shot dead this week after he pointed a laser and shot a gun at a police helicopter.
Police say that the unnamed 33-year-old man from Detroit pointed a green laser at the helicopter as it flew around the north of downtown Detroit. He did this from inside his home.
Michigan State Police say that the bright laser could have blinded the pilot, which could have caused a lot of deaths.
Michigan State Police released a video of the man using a laser to aim and then coming out with a “long gun.”
In the video taken from the helicopter, the pilot can be heard saying:
We got somebody hitting us with a green laser on the rear of the house, upper window.
Now there’s somebody standing at the back door. Right now, they’re in the backyard.
He actually might, he might be armed.
He almost looks like he’s holding a long gun pointed at us right now. Yeah, he’s shooting at us right now.
He’s firing rounds. He’s got a long gun, extended magazine.
After that, the police locked down the area and surrounded the suspect to make sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone else.
They and the suspect traded shots, and then two state police troopers moved in and killed the man.
When he talked to Fox 2, Lieutenant Mike Shaw of the Michigan State Police said:
If the pilot had been blinded and crashed into this neighborhood, it would have been a lot worse.
People don’t realise the seriousness of firing a laser at our aircraft or any aircraft.
Troopers returned fire – the suspect was hit and went down.
We had our emergency support team show up, and went up to approach the house.
There were concerns because he was still armed and was laying there.
Authorities were worried when they found “multiple weapons and ammunition stashes” in the man’s empty home, where he had been living.
Inside the house, investigators found six guns, one of which was used to shoot at the helicopter.
No one was hurt in the accident, and the helicopter wasn’t hurt either.
On Twitter, Michigan State Police added:
The two troopers involved this incident have nine and two years of service. They are currently on leave.
This investigation is ongoing and when completed will be submitted to the prosecutor for review.
